Means to splay and coat filamentary yarn



p 1969 c. CHABAN, JR

MEANS TO SPLAY AND COAT FILAMENTARY YARN Filed Aug. 27, 1968 INVENTORCASTULO CHAB AN JR BY A/waxi I? u/mi:

ATTORNEY United States Patent U.S. Cl. 118-44 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE An apparatus for diverting and splaying an advancingfilamentary yarn in contact with a driven finish applicator roll. Aguide with a convex surface is mounted centrally behind the yarn pathfor swinging outward and inward movement about an axis parallel to theaxis of the finish roll to divert the yarn from the roll and splay theyarn into a uniform width then release the yarn to the roll.

Background of the invention This invention relates generally to themanufacture of synthetic fibers and more particularly to improvements inan apparatus for applying finish to a moving threadline.

In the manufacture of a filamentary yarn from synthetic polymers such asnylon, it is common practice to apply a liquid finishing composition tothe yarn surface immediately following the spinning and quencingoperation. The finish functions primarily to lubricate the filamentsfrom rubbing and abrasive action on guide surfaces and to hold togetherthe substantially parallel filaments in the yarn bundle duringsubsequent processing. Commonly, finish is applied by advancing thefilaments in contact with the exposed surface of a driven roll whichdips into a finish pool. The roll may be covered at the point of contactwith a stationary layer of gauze as shown, for example, in US. Patent3,336,900. Finish applied in this manner migrates within the filamentbundle in time to a substantially uniform level. However, in high speed,coupled spin-drawn processes, particularly at low levels offinish-on-yarn, the brief interval between application of finish anddrawing of the yarn restricts finish leveling by migration beforedrawing which can result in yarn of inferior quality. Increasing thelevel of finish application to improve quality and performance isundesirable due to increased cost and excessive fouling of customerprocessing equipment.

Some improvement can be realized when a cloth or gauze skirt is placedat the point of contact between the yarn and the finish roll and whenthe yarn is passed over the skirt splayed out in ribbon form.Particularly, with such a finish application method, it has now beenfound that large variations in finish level from one spinning positionto another and from doff-to-doff can result due to variations in thewidth of the yarn ribbon in contact with the finish applicator. Thesevariations exist because lateral friction between the yarn, and theapplicator is sufiicient to prevent the yarn from spreading to anequilibrium ribbon width, which would be the same for each position oreach dofiing cycle. Consequently, the ribbon Width on the finish rolland the amount of finish applied are subject to uncontrolled variablesof operation during the initial string-up of the yarn on the machine byone or more operators.

Consequently, an object of this invention is an apparatus which permitsmore uniform control of the width of the yarn ribbon in contact with afinish applicator roll during the string-up operation.

3,468,284 Patented Sept. 23, 1969 Summary of the invention Thisinvention is an apparatus including a driven yarn ribbon finishapplicator roll preferably engaged by a gauze skirt at an area ofcontact with a continuously advancing filamentary yarn ribbon, guidemeans for temporarily diverting the yarn ribbon from contact with saidroll, said guide means comprising: a fixed support; a guide holdermovably mounted on the support; a convexsurfaced, guide mounted on saidholder in axial parallelism with said driven roll; spring means biasingsaid holder away from said yarn diverting position; and actuator meansfor advancing said guide into said yarn diverting position. Thus, in usethe guide diverts the yarn ribbon from contact with the finishapplicator and the yarn ribbon is splayed out in a uniform manner; theribbon is permitted to come to an equilibrium width before beingreleased to contact the finish applicator. This then assures a uniformwidth for the yarn ribbon in contact with the finish roll fromposition-to-position and doff-to-doff, thus improving finish uniformityfrom one yarn package to another.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a schematic illustrationof a process installation into which the yarn diverting guide of thepresent invention has been incorporated.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the finish applicator roll and thediverting guide.

FIG. 3 is a front elevation of the diverting guide shown in FIG. 2.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiment The processinstallation chosen for purposes of illustration in FIG. 1 includes aspinning block 10 from which two ends of filamentary yarn 12 are spunthrough a quenching chimney 14. Yarn 12 advances as two convergingbundles over a planar guide 16 past a diverting guide, generallydesignated as 18 and over a driven finish applicator roll 20. Gauzeskirts 22 are positioned between the yarn 12 and the finish roll at thearea of yarn contact with roll 20. The yarn then converges laterally ascompact bundles at convergence guides 24 and is then forwarded inseveral wraps around feed roll 26 and its associated separator roll 28and from which it is forwarded for further processing. Referring now toFIGS. 2, 3 rotatably driven finish roll 20 dips into a liquid finishcontained in pan 30. Diverting guide 18 includes L-shaped fixed supports32, guide holder 34, a pair of elongated guides 36 mounted in holder 34and an actuating arm 38 attached to holder 34. Guides 36 are positionedso their mid-points are in substantial alignment with yarn bundles 12and have convex surfaces as shown which center about their mid-points.Holder 34 is mounted in supports 32 by bolts 40 for swinging outward andinward movement about the common axis of the bolts which issubstantially parallel to the axis of roll 20. A spring 42 is shownconnected between arm 38 and a fixed lug 44 for biasing the holder 34inwardly away from the yarn 12. FIG. 2 shows a force being applied toarm 38 such that holder 34 is moved outwardly and guides 36 are incontact with yarn 12 diverting it from contact with finish roll 20 andits associated gauze skirt 22.

In operation, pressure on the actuating arm 38 advances splayer guides36 into contact with the yarn pushing it away from contact with thefinish applicator guaze 22. Because of the convex surface of the guides36 the yarn ribbon is splayed. After the yarn attains an equilibriumwidth, actuating arm 38 is released, spring 42 moves holder 34 inwardlythus permitting the yarn to return into contact with the cloth gauze 22whereupon friction maintains a constant width of the splayed yarnribbon. This operation is performed immediately after string-up at thebeginning of each yarn package and need not be repeated until string-upafter the next dofiing cycle.

In practice, it has been found that the use of the apparatus of thisinvention results in a more uniform finish application from doif-to-doffand position-to-position, thus overall quality of the product isimproved and lower finish levels may be employed. Accordingly, thisapparatus is particularly advantageous in a coupled spindraw processwhere a necessary characteristic of the finish for spinning and drawingmay be undesirable in the end product. With more effective applicationof the processing finish at low levels of finish-on-yarn, a postapplication of product finish for improved textile processing isfacilitated.

Generally, the diverting splaying guide should be centrally positionedwith respect to the yarn path in order to provide a uniform splayingaction across the width of the yarn ribbon. The curvature of thesplaying guide surface should be sufiicient to provide a positivesplaying action but should not be so highly curved that it tends todistort the width of the ribbon much beyond the normal equilibrium widthof the converging filaments at the point of contact. For maximum benefitin maintaining uniformity from one position to another, the processingapparatus must be arranged to provide an equal angle of convergence andequal equilibrium width of the planar, converging yarn ribbon from oneposition to another.

This apparatus may be employed with any conventional, liquid yarnfinish. It is particularly beneficial with oil-based finishes which tendto be more viscous and penetrate more slowly than less viscouswater-based oil emulsions.

Although the invention has been illustrated with respect to thepreferred embodiment of a finish applicator roll engaged by a gauzeskirt at the yarn contacting area because of its higher lateral surfacefriction, this invention may also be used with more conventional finishapplicator rolls, e.g. ceramic rolls, without the skirt to assure morerapid attainment of equilibrium width of the yarn ribbon after thestring-up operation.

What is claimed is:

1. In an apparatus including a driven finish applicator roll in contactwith an advancing filamentary yarn, a guide for diverting the yarn fromthe roll and splaying the yarn into a uniform ribbon, said guidecomprising: a fixed support positioned behind said yarn; a guide holdermovably mounted on said support for swinging outward and inward movementabout an axis substantially parallel to that of the roll; an elongatedguide mounted on said holder in axial parallelism with said roll, saidguide having a mid-point aligned with said yarn, said guide having aconvex surface centered about said mid-point; means for biasing saidholder inwardly away from said yarn; and an actuator associated withsaid holder for swinging said holder outwardly toward said yarn so thatsaid guide contacts said yarn and diverts it from said roll and splaysit into a uniform ribbon.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including a gauze skirt engaging said finishroll at the point of contact with said yarn.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,488,298 3/ 1924 Thomayer.1,576,013 3/1926 'Ihomayer 68-203 X 2,160,300 5/1939 Baldwin 188-234 X2,464,502 3/ 1949 Hall et al. 3,118,790 1/1964 Gonsalves 118-443,166,822 1/ 1965 Starkie 28-1 3,226,773 1/ 1966 Paliyenko. 3,336,900 8/1967 Hitt. 3,345,697 10/1967 Aspy. 3,384,944 5/ 1968 Medeiros et al.

MORRIS KAPLIN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

